


Infinity

by KierenRose



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Canon-Typical Violence, M/M, Not Beta Read, Slow Burn, Time Travel, adding tags as I go because I don't have the whole picture of what's gonna go down yet
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-11
Updated: 2019-07-23
Packaged: 2020-06-26 06:28:48
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19762477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KierenRose/pseuds/KierenRose
Summary: After finding another Vault, Rhys is taken back to the beginning of his career at Hyperion. A fresh start, a chance to fix things that went wrong prior to the vault, and a chance to save someone he thought never needed saving.





	1. New Beginnings

Rhys’s eyes flicked open, adrenaline rushing him as he felt his entire body sink into what felt like a fall. But he wasn’t falling, and found himself on a worn out, familiar mattress, buried in blankets with a case of bed head so bad he could feel the static cling of auburn strands to his pillow. With a deep breath, and one brief, tight squeeze of his eyes, he pushed himself up into a sitting position, utilizing his single, heavily tattooed arm. He took in his environment.

This felt strange. Being here again. Somewhere where he’d spent many years of his life until it all went to hell within only a week. In all honesty, it didn’t feel that long ago when he was here last. In his uncomfortable bed, safe and sound in his apartment on the Helios space station. His room was always a mess, and right now was no exception. Dirty laundry piling up in a corner, metallic bits and bobs scattered on the floor and his desk from failed projects he worked on in his free time. And how could he forget the walls. Covered in pictures- posters- mainly of one man in particular.

He’d have to take those down. Over time, of course, his roommate would wonder if he hit his head again if he suddenly didn’t idolize Handsome Jack anymore. Which he didn’t, for the most part. Rhys didn’t think of Jack as someone to look up to- after everything, he thought of him as a guy on the same level as everyone else, except for the fact that he always had his finger resting on a trigger.

Rhys stretched his limbs, looking over to the holographic blue clock ticking away on his nightstand. It was before he usually went to work- from what he remembered. In all honestly he wasn’t sure what day he even landed in, so he got up to his feet. Upon further inspection of his room, there was something definitely missing. He used to be accustomed to that presence being gone, but after having the cybernetic for so long he’d forgotten what it was like to live with one arm- no ECH0-Eye implanted, no super fancy Hyperion brand arm and multi-tool. So, it was safe to say he was back in one of his earlier years on Helios. And that he wasn’t looking forward to having those surgeries a second time.

Oh god this meant he was still only a low level programmer.

He bit back his disappointment at the fact that he'd have to climb the ladder again. But to be fair, this was his second chance. This all would be worth it if he could change at least _something._ Rhys threw on some clothes- just something comfortable. Soft grey sweatpants and hey he had that yellow tank top again! _Holy shit all his socks, too._ He nearly shed a tear when he opened the drawer, definitely picking out one of his previously favorite pairs- light blue with a cactus print on them.

Stepping through the doorway, Rhys was having a complete nostalgia trip. Although he tried his best not to be weird about it, because who did he see standing off to the side of the kitchen other than his best friend since college, Vaughn. Rhys smiled. It’d been too long since he’d seen him, too, and he fought the nearly irresistible urge of hugging the life out of him. “Hey bro, what day is it?” He asked casually, shoving his hand in his pocket and leaning against the door frame that separated the short hall from their kitchen and living room.

“Thursday. Good morning, by the way.” Vaughn shot him a smile before stepping over to the counter, prompted by his bagel popping up out of the toaster. “This is the last one and I don’t plan on sharing. It’s only fair considering you ate more than half of our pizza last night.”

“Morning, and that bagel was perfect pizza bagel potential! You’re wasting your opportunity for more pizza-” Rhys’s hand freed itself and he gestured with a grin as he spoke. Then he bit at the inside of his cheek, tapping his foot. “But no, like, what’s the date?” Vaughn raised an eyebrow at him before grabbing a knife to put some rather disgusting looking flavored cream cheese onto said bagel.

“March 6th. Funny, you’re the one that’s usually good with keeping track of the days in this hellhole,” he laughed, setting the used knife in the sink and smushing the two halves of his bagel together. Rhys shifted and actually stepped into the kitchen, hungry himself since it was indeed breakfast time.

“To be fair, I’m still tired.” He shrugged, walking past Vaughn and rummaging through their fridge and cupboards. He’d just have to find out what year it was on his own time, because forgetting the year was something he couldn’t make an excuse for. But he also didn’t know if he was working or not today, and that alone made him slightly stressed. However, with knowledge of how Helios ran, he probably did have a shift considering the hours the higher ups pushed on lower-level-and-very-air-lockable employees. This was only a matter if he remembered where his cubicle used to be, or let alone his computer password. The password wasn’t as big of a deal, though, because that just took a little bit of basic hacking to get past which he was pretty good at even without the handy dandy echo eye.

Rhys groaned, not able to find anything that looked good anywhere. What he ended up settling for was making a very sad omelet. Just salt, pepper, eggs and milk. One thing that he didn’t miss were the meals he made himself when he was a programmer. He still ate like he was in college, which he was going to gradually push away from once he even had the money to do so. Now, however, he felt like that wouldn’t be as long of a wait as it was previously. Information was what made Helios’s own social system run. The more dirt you had on others the precarious ladder seemed to turn into an escalator, and boy did Rhys know a lot of dirt this time around.

He made his depressing meal, and joined Vaughn on the couch while the two of them ate. Vaughn was done first, and he must’ve only woken up minutes before he did because afterward he disappeared into the bathroom to get ready for the day- spending at least twenty minutes in there to take a shower and the like. Rhys set his dishes in the kitchen sink, and patiently waited for his turn with his still insane bedhead. What was usually gelled back was now hanging over his forehead, wavy little auburn curls which he tried to brush behind his ear. They were too short to actually stay there, though.

Rhys found himself stuck in front of the mirror when the bathroom was free. He was a lot younger again. He didn’t know the year, but he had to be in his early twenties. At least twenty-one, at most twenty-four. No more growing lines from years of stress at the top of his own company, definitely not as many scars on his body- and the twisted, scarred, nub of his right arm was still present. That hurt to look at. He lived with it for a long time, of course, but looking at the raw skin made his stomach sink as he was painfully reminded how it came to be.

He took his time in the shower, and afterward swapped into his usual work attire. The only difference being that instead of one sleeve, there were two, and the other was only partly cut off. He had Vaughn’s assistance in tying it so it wouldn’t get in the way.

And then he headed to work.

Finding his desk was- well, it was difficult. It involved a lot of gawking and looking for name tags. After weirding out some of his coworkers, he eventually found a cubicle labeled with his surname of ‘Strongfork,’ and sat down in the uncomfortable, plastic Hyperion chair. He wasn’t a fan of data-mining either, but at least they had cushioned office chairs to sit in. Rhys did end up having to hack into his own computer, too, and once he did, he changed his password to the one he used in his own office as CEO of Atlas, knowing that string of numbers and letters by heart.

Hours flew by, and the hours shortly turned into days. Rhys needed the time to get his bearings, fall back into routine, and figure out what was going on currently in the timeline. He was indeed twenty-two, he figured out, meaning he had a few years to get a different outcome.

He had a few years to get close to Handsome Jack, no matter how terrifying he found that to be after what the AI put him through. He had a few years to get close to Handsome Jack- and a few years to save his life.


	2. "First" Encounter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright I'm impulse posting! I feel like my posting schedule is gonna be very irregular with my lack of self control, so fair warning. But there should still be at least one chapter a week if not more.

Saving Handsome Jack was going to be an extremely lengthy and difficult process. Even the AI had a hard time listening to anyone other than himself, and Rhys had to reach that nearly unattainable goal within a certain time constraint. He had to gain enough of Jack’s trust that he would be able to persuade him to back down from opening a vault. Or the second option- convince him not to enslave his daughter. If Rhys wasn’t too late for that already, that is. No one knew how early that had started when Jack kept Angel’s entire existence hidden so well.

Angel was one of the things Rhys didn’t like to think too hard on during this waiting game. It just didn’t sit right with him in the slightest for all of the obvious reasons. He only knew she ever existed due to seeing the picture behind Jack’s desk minutes before being strapped to his chair with buzz-saw in his face, and it wasn’t until years later that Rhys got curious enough to ask Zer0 about it since they had met her. Seriously, how could someone do that to their own daughter?

He tried not to think about it or where Angel could be as the days went on.

Programming was one of the harder departments to get promoted from, and last time it took Rhys an entire two years to escape it. However, with the right misplaced data and empty threats of blackmail, he was able to turn those years into only a few months. Vaughn didn’t understand how he did it, which was fair enough, and Rhys just jokingly blamed it on his own ambitious personality and dashing good looks.

Basically, he cheated his way back into data-mining. And things felt more normal now. More familiar. And not in a strange sense of the word besides that occasional feeling of deja-vu when there were repeated, forgotten conversations between friends. Rhys had adjusted well to going through his life again, enjoying it for the most part. Second chances were sought after and you can bet he wasn’t wasting his- doing things he’d missed out on the first time around from well deserved back-stabbings to seeing films on their release day. Instead of waiting for the chance to take the eridium mining deal that brought him a hefty bonus last time, however, he was saving up for the arm and implants himself. All in all he was impatient about it because everything was a lot harder with only one arm. Plus, experimental cybernetics were one sure-fire way to get noticed in this company.

It did however take half a year for Rhys to get to this point, and he still hadn’t had a single run-in with Jack. No interactions. No coincidentally passing him in the hallway. It was _frustrating_. How hard could it be when Jack’s face was on nearly every wall and tv-screen?

It was a day like any other. Schmoozing up to the department head- who wasn’t Mr. Henderson this time now that he was ahead of schedule- and pressing for another promotion to a manager or even take her position from right under her feet. One thing was for sure and that was that there was no way in hell he was _ever_ going to let himself be given the title of Assistant Vice Janitor.

“Yeah- have a great day, Ms. Vera.” Rhys smiled and waved as he stepped out of her office, and once he was in the clear he let his smile fall with a roll of his eyes. God, he was tired of her. Always so condescending and acting like she was above it all- way worse than Henderson. Henderson was a _pushover_. He huffed and shoved his hand in his pocket, looking down at the floor with petty, mocking thoughts distracting him while he walked. Thank god it was at least the end of the day. Rhys couldn’t wait to go home, hole himself up in his room, and have a night of blissful, hopefully uninterrupted, sleep.

Once his short elevator trip ended at the Hub of Heroism, it became apparent that there was something going on. Because people didn’t just crowd together without reason, even if said crowd in front of him was a bit sparse. Rhys approached the group, trying to peer through gaps between employees for a curious glimpse of whatever was happening in the center of the crowd. But while he pushed past a few lines of coworkers, there was a deafening bang. The distinct sound of a Hyperion pistol silenced the onlookers, and after a moment of hesitation the herd of people quickly dispersed, propelled by a booming voice Rhys knew all too well. He stayed in place, squeezing his eyes shut for a moment before opening them again to a clear view of the scene that had unfolded in these last minutes.

Handsome Jack stood, wiping blood spatter off his face with the sleeve of his jacket. Rhys tried not to let his gaze drift to the pooling blood on the floor, but it did, and he held back whatever disgust and horror he could. He’d seen a lot of death in his days, however the gore had never been his favorite thing. Jack’s foot gently kicking at the paling body brought his attention back on his current employer, who wore a big grin on his face. He let out an obnoxious laugh before returning his gun to his hip. “ _Whew_ , really gets the blood flowing. Alright, you-” He clapped his hands together and pointed at another nearby worker, who presumably actually worked in the hub since they didn’t vacate on Jack’s command. “Go get someone to clean this up. Can’t have blood staining these floors, amiright?”

“R-right, sir,” the shaken employee agreed, complying and going off to find a janitor.

There weren’t many people left in the vicinity, so naturally, Jack’s eyes fell onto him, and Rhys felt like _he_ was the one that just got shot in the chest. He wasn’t sure he anticipated this when seeing Jack again for the first time since that fateful day in the ruins of Helios, but it wasn’t necessarily an unexpected way to meet the real, flesh and blood Handsome Jack, either. Death seemed to be the only friend Jack ever had.

Anyway, it was a little odd to see him in person when he wasn’t blue from head to toe.

Jack lifted a hand to shoo Rhys away, his grin never leaving his face. “Go on, get back to work. I don’t pay ya to stand there.”

“Actually, my shift just ended, but if I _was_ getting paid to stand here I wouldn’t mind it.” There was a beat and Jack raised an eyebrow at him. Then he stepped forward, carefully avoiding the slowly spreading blood on the tile.

“You’re ballsy, huh?” If Rhys didn’t know any better, he’d say that Jack sounded impressed. He held himself well, even as Jack broke into his personal space bubble. “No stuttering, no ‘Yes, Mr. Handsome Jack, Sir,’ some _smartass_ comment-” Jack’s shook his head a little, and with the smile still stuck on Jack’s face, unbelievably Rhys was right that he’d impressed him. Thankfully, he did seem to catch Jack in a _good_ post-murder mood.

If this was Rhys’s first time around the block, he would have been gone by now, trembling and the whole shebang. Although since he knew him now, Jack didn't scare him in the slightest. Rhys knew things about Jack that no one else in the universe currently did and that in itself held power. So, so far so good.

“I just killed someone and you’re not shitting your pants!” Jack poked at his chest playfully as he continued. The unpleasant smell of iron was now settling in his nose from the nearby unfortunate soul.

“Guess you could say I’m desensitized to it,” he shrugged, letting himself grin back.

“What department are you in?” Jack bit the inside of his cheek and shoved his thumbs in his pockets, looking Rhys up and down as he tried to answer the question on his own from only his wardrobe. Rhys tried not to let it bother him when his gaze stuck on his right arm for a second too long.

“Data mining.”

“Oh _god_ that’s boring,” Jack chuckled and pulled his ech0 out of his jacket, typing something in and continuing without looking up from it. “And what’s your name, sweetcheeks?”

“Rhys?” He answered, confused as to why Jack wanted to know but not questioning it. The fact he even asked for his name was as good a start as any. Rhys tried to peek at the screen, but it was angled in such a way that he couldn’t. “Rhys Strongfork.” The CEO looked up at him at that, definitely finding his name entertaining. Not that Rhys wasn’t used to his name getting made fun of.

“Strongfork? Seriously?” Jack smiled so wide Rhys thought his mask might crack, if it could. He’d never known what material it was made of. “Wow, your parents must’ve hated you-” The CEO laughed again while his thumbs tapped away on the device. His smile faded after a moment and he let out a prolonged sigh. “Alright, seriously, pumpkin, lying about your name to me is real stupid, you know that right?” He saw Jack’s free hand drifting toward the holster on his hip. Rhys knew Jack _probably_ wasn’t going to shoot him, but with the quickly shifting mood the threat did manage to get a reaction out of him. Was he afraid of Jack? No. Was he afraid of getting shot in the face? Yes.

“I didn’t! It’s just- spelled funny. R-H-Y-S-” He pointed at the ech0 with a nervous smile, urging him to try typing it in again. Jack pressed his tongue against the inside of his cheek, keeping eye contact for a moment before bringing his hand back up for another attempt, his smile returning.

“And _there’s_ that fear.” Rhys turned a little red, getting a little mad at himself because it was so painfully obvious that was just to get a rise out of him. “Also I take that back, your parents must’ve hated you _a lot_.”

A few moments passed as Jack fiddled with his ech0. Then he laughed to himself.

“There we are!” Jack looked back up at him and tucked the device away, hands coming to rest on his hips. “Said your shift’s over, boom, now it’s not! No need to thank me- go get back to work, cupcake, you’ve got a few more hours to go!” He strode past him, patting Rhys’s shoulder a few times as he did.

Rhys turned his head and watched the CEO walk away with a frown on his face, both annoyed that he wasn't going home and amazed at how petty that was. When Jack was out of earshot, he couldn’t help but groan as he turned himself back in the direction from which he came. Rhys thought he was done, but nope, Jack just rudely tacked on more hours to his already long workday for one extremely petty, insignificant instance of needing to be right. To be fair, that could’ve gone worse. Rhys was only reminded of how painfully _annoying_ Jack and his overblown ego could be, and that was something he hadn’t missed in the slightest. Not to say that he’d missed Jack at all or anything- he just knew having him still breathing would change the outcome of the timeline. Hopefully. It’s not like he got any more chances after this.

Vaughn was highly concerned when Rhys came home four hours later than usual. If you’re not on time on Helios, it’s usually safe to assume someone literally stabbed you or tossed you out of an airlock. Needless to say his reasoning of living through meeting Handsome Jack was shocking to hear. Vaughn was simultaneously as excited for his friend as much as he was relieved that he was alive due to the fact that Rhys just met the man he’d looked up to for years for the very first time. Or the presumed first time.

“And he pat your shoulder?”

Rhys was sitting on the armrest of the couch, while Vaughn was sat by the tiny island counter separating the rooms. “I can’t believe that’s what you’re getting stuck on, what about the part where he insulted my name? _Twice._ That felt like a hefty throwback to high-school.” Rhys was however, also stuck on the shoulder touch. The closest he’d gotten to the real Jack touching him was when he spit on his face in passing, which he might’ve been too happy about at the time but looking back on it it was definitely gross. And he wasn’t going to count anything with the AI. Being strangled with his own arm _certainly_ didn’t count. In all honesty, he didn’t know how to feel about the fact that Jack could actually touch him this time around if he considered the numerous attempts the AI made on his life.

“Don’t be so sore, look on the bright side! You got noticed by _Handsome Jack_ , the guy you’ve been pining for since, I don’t know, literally forever?”

“ _Dude_ ,” Rhys gave Vaughn a look. “I haven’t been- _pining_ for him.” He defended himself with a wave of his arm- although really he kind of had been, especially when he first started at Hyperion. There was no other reasonable explanation for the numerous posters and other Jack-themed merchandise he owned. Thankfully, he’d quickly come to his senses and grown out of that after the station came tumbling down. “I just look up to him.” At this point that was a lie. Handsome Jack as a role model? Yeesh, what was he thinking. “And it wasn’t even like, anything important that got me noticed. He’ll forget about me by tomorrow.” He sighed and got to his feet. Even one conversation was progress, but this was going much slower than he needed it to.

“Just saying, thought you’d be more happy about meeting your idol?” Vaughn said cautiously, looking at Rhys with furrowed eyebrows.

“Don’t get me wrong, I am.” Sort of a half-truth. Glad his main reason for coming back was starting to be put into action? Yes. Glad that Jack was still a raging asshole and generally not great to be around? Definitely not. “Long day, I’m beat, so I’m going to bed.” Rhys shut down the conversation just like that, disappearing into his room for the night and going as far as locking his door.

Rhys lied awake for longer than he would've liked, wondering if Jack would actually forget about him while he prodded at what was left of his right arm. There was a disembodied ache projecting from it, and when it spiked Rhys removed his hand from it, threading fingers back through his hair before letting his arm thud against the pillow. Maybe if he ignored it hard enough the pains would go away and let him get more than a few hours of rest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm a lil iffy on parts of this chapter but I've already completely re-written it once so take it ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> Comments and kudos are appreciated!


	3. Pins and Needles

The morning of his surgeries, Rhys’s stomach was in a twist. It’s been eight months now since he came back to Helios, even if he never left to everyone else, and he’d managed to save up just enough where if he scraped the bottom of the barrel he could afford the enhancements. The risks were much higher this time, and that was something he took into consideration going into it. The tech wasn’t nearly as good as it would be in another year, but he couldn’t wait that long to get the phantom pains and sensations out of his system.

The cybernetic would help them go away or at least become manageable. Because there would be something actually _there_ that he could associate with the feelings and let alone move.

“Mr. Strongfork?”

Rhys looked up from where he was seated in the waiting room, greeted by a middle-aged woman dressed in white- save for her shoes which were a dark red. He sincerely hoped they were made that way and weren’t just stained.

“Yeah, that’s me,” Rhys raised his hand as he stood, stepping up to the woman and reading her name tag right off the bat just in case something went wrong- for example, an attempted murder. Which Rhys felt could be a very real possibility when you’re on the Hyperion hospital deck. He couldn’t imagine the number of ER patients they got everyday from the crazed, power hungry employees filling the station looking to take the fast route to a promotion.

The woman- Ester as her nametag helpfully provided- lead him into a winding hallway past the receptionist, eyes focused on the clipboard in her hands. She walked like she knew the place like the back of her hand, not even looking up as she read the documents. “Okay, sir, everything came back, showing that you’re in suitable condition for the experimental eye-implant surgery, and the cybernetic limb enhancement, or in your case replacement.” She turned over the next page, only looking up when they came to an open door on the left side of the hall. Just an average medical examining room from what he could tell, faux-leather bed covered with a crinkly paper, counter with the basic med supplies and a singular spinning office stool. The only thing different was a drip IV machine. “This’ll be your room while we prep you.”

“Alright,” Rhys nodded, entering the room and taking his presumed seat on top of the low-quality bed. Ester sat opposite him, on the spinning stool.

“I’m assuming you followed protocol and haven’t consumed anything for the last twelve hours?” He nodded again, and she continued. The hunger however definitely wasn’t helping with the nerves already settled in his stomach. “Alright, I'm just going to need you to sign this.” She flipped over a few more pages before handing him the clipboard and pen. “To save you the pain of reading it, the basics are that you’re signing to give consent to the procedures, and that you acknowledge any errors do not fall on the fault of our esteemed staff due to the experimental nature and risks already involved.”

Rhys set the clipboard on his thigh, using the weight of his arm to hold it down as he signed, not bothering to read it. Already having done this once, the liability form was presumably the same. He slid the pen into the clip and gave it back. “How long do you estimate the recovery period will be?” That was his only question, since he _knew_ it was going to be longer. And it was.

“For the arm two weeks, for the eye and input port it’s going to be four. Although if you can afford a regeneration hypo it’ll speed up the healing process by half. And the more expensive insta-heal would have you fixed up in a day, although it may leave more visible scars.”

“Ah, yeah, don’t think I can afford either of those,” he replied, giving her a soft smile. Even if by chance he was able to afford it, Rhys really hated needles and those things in particular were _huge_. Definitely a no, in Rhys’ book. She nodded back.

“Okay, sir, your doctor will be in just a minute to get you prepped. Get changed into this gown,” She set a folded hospital gown on the counter. “And I suggest you lie down until then.”

“Thank you.” And then he was alone. With a deep breath he followed her suggestion, closing his eyes and focusing on his breathing to calm his increasing heart rate, even if whatever anesthesia they administered to him was going to fix that anyway.

It took ten minutes for the doctor and the few surgeons that were going to be operating on him to arrive. They went over the basics again, and had the IV inserted into his arm with some panicky resistance from Rhys’s phobia. The needle made him wince but the anesthesia and pain killers kicked in relatively quickly. The medical personnel made idle conversation with each other as they cleansed the areas of operation, and amongst the chatter Rhys could’ve sworn he heard something about his soon-to-be cybernetic eye. He slipped off into unconsciousness before his brain could process it.

When Rhys woke up, the first thing he noticed was the dull throbbing in his head. It hurt like hell, and was so distracting he couldn’t think of anything else for a solid minute until he cracked open his brown eye and realized he was hooked up to another IV. The control button for it was right at his side, hopefully meaning those were his lovely, lovely painkillers in the drip bag. He pressed the button and patiently waited. The relief wasn’t necessarily instant, but after a few minutes the pain in both his head and shoulder died down to a tolerable level. He stayed awake just long enough for a nurse to notice before he fell back asleep.

The next day when he opened his functional eye, he did more than just help himself to painkillers. Ester came in to talk to him, informing him that the surgeries went without complication, he was to keep the eyepatch on for another week and a half, and that they were holding him for observation for the next four days until he finally received his arm. Because if they gave it to him too soon, the weight of it would pull on his shoulder and reopen the wounds.

Rhys smoothed his fingers over what was previously the stump of his right arm when he was left alone. There weren’t any bandages covering it besides right at the connection point of his torso. It was just a metal oval now, a lighter ring around the circumference and a darker metal filling the center, where a dip was created for wires and other components to connect to. This was what he was used to, and he was _so_ relieved that he’d have an arm again after nearly a year without it.

The days went by slowly, it being rather boring in Rhys’s own opinion as he tried to entertain himself in the blank hospital room. The only time he wasn’t bored was during Vaughn’s daily visits, but soon enough it was his fourth day under observation, and he was just itching to get out of there.

His doctor brought the cybernetic- which looked more outdated than his starter last time. A lot bulkier, still Hyperion colors but this time with a logo painted on the shoulder plate. They went over how to attach and remove the arm even if Rhys already knew, and the doctor stayed to take notes and perform various mobility and hardware tests before swapping the bandages. There weren’t any LEDs on the arm, but thankfully his palm interface still seemed to be fully-operational. He was prescribed a bottle of painkillers, of course, because getting a hole drilled into your temple had to be one of the worst pains there was and Rhys had now experienced the aftermath twice- and then he was free to go.

There were two more doctor-required recovery days until he could start working again, but Rhys didn’t want to comply with that because time was money and after spending a week in a hospital without any pay, him and Vaughn really needed the work just to pay their upcoming rent and to buy food for themselves, Really, he was supposed to walk back to the apartment right after he was released. But to hell with that, he was going to visit his desk and grab some essentials to make progress at home. The bandages and loose-fitting clothes that he downright never wore in public got him some looks, but no one outright mentioned them to him as he made his way to the correct deck.

Due to being stuck in the hospital, Rhys was a little out of the loop, and when he entered the department, making his way to his sector he noticed the odd silence that fell over his coworkers. Usually there was at least some chatter, but everyone seemed to be quiet, and Rhys found that very, very strange. “Hey, did someone die that I don’t know about?” He asked in a joking manner to a nearby peer, who in return looked as pale as a ghost at the break in the silence.

“Not yet, but Ms. Vera was caught selling information to Maliwan,” they said, more hushed than Rhys had spoken. “Handsome Jack is in there right now.”

That was all he needed to know, and he looked warily toward the woman’s office. You could just faintly hear their muffled voices. With Jack close, this was another chance to talk to him- however, considering the circumstances it didn’t sound like he’d be in a good mood this time.

Rhys went about his business, sitting down and logging into the system. His finger idly tapped on the desk while he waited for everything to open up, and when it did he grabbed a data drive out from a drawer, plugging into his computer. He dragged his current projects to it and that was that. However, Rhys stayed right where he was. He wasn’t getting paid to be here, of course- he wasn’t scheduled for it. But he needed every chance he could get to catch Jack’s eye.

Jack had one-hundred percent forgotten about him by now, so it was time for a different approach.

There wasn’t a gunshot this time. Just shouting, quieter talking, and then complete and utter silence. When the silence hit Rhys sprung into action, shoving the drive in his pocket and standing up with a glance toward the office. People avoided turning their heads when the sound of the office door opening hit their ears, focusing on their work and waiting for the clear. Although Rhys was already looking, and he briefly met Handsome Jack’s eyes before turning on his heel. No one was ever _intentionally_ acting suspicious when Jack was present, but there wasn’t any better way he could think of to grab his attention and keep it. Plus, he had to be a spectacle with how out of place his current outfit made him look.

He casually weaved through the department and he could feel Jack’s eyes on him the entire time. Rhys would count that as a success. Footsteps trailed behind him but Jack didn’t speak. Well, at least until they were in the less cramped hall that led to the elevator. He made sure to linger and walk slow enough that he’d still be there by the time the CEO caught up.

The next thing Rhys knew, he was being slammed against a wall.

The impact of his newly-healing shoulder against the hard surface made Rhys’s face twist up. But when the sudden pain subsided he opened his eye, met with a heterochromatic gaze from only inches away from his face. He couldn’t tell exactly how close Handsome Jack was, but he could tell those eyes were definitely angry, and so were the fists balling up the collar of his blue t-shirt.

“You- you must be seriously stupid if you think you’ll escape when my back is turned, you fucking _traitor_ ,” Jack snapped at him, one hand losing it’s grasp just to find itself a little higher, fingers wrapping around Rhys’s throat. Ohhhh mistakes had been _made_ . He’d completely underestimated just how bad Jack’s day seemed to be going. Rhys swallowed and memories flashed through his head as Jack’s hold tightened- flashes of blue and the feeling of hard metal cutting off his windpipe. The memories that used to give him nightmares more often than he’d admit to himself. “What, you see your friend’s been found out so you try to book it?” He loosened his grip just slightly to get a response, daring him to just _try_ and say something witty. As much as Rhys despised being pushed around after being at the top of Atlas for an entire decade, he didn’t really have a choice other than to submit.

“I’ve never been in contact with Maliwan, sir.” Calling Jack ‘sir’ left a bitter taste on Rhys’s tongue. “You can look through my computer and everything-” he attempted to talk himself out of it, voice going high-pitched at the end while Jack cut him off with a brief, tight squeeze. He was really taking his time with this.

“You see, even if that’s true, it’d be much easier to just strangle the _life_ out of ya, huh?” Jack stared him down, a toothy grin spreading across his face even if his eyes looked cold. Then his expression shifted to something more curious, and the hand that had been on his shirt now prodded at the bandages covering the left side of his face. Rhys winced. “What’s this from, pumpkin?”

“Surgery. Got an ech0 eye a week ago and I’ve been holed up in the hospital until today,” Rhys managed to choke out.

“Shit, that was _you_ ?” Jack questioned in a grumble. After a moment of eye contact, the hand dropped from his neck and Jack stepped back- thankfully, giving Rhys room to actually breathe. “That tech’s new as hell you’re, like, the second person to survive it.” He laughed roughly, and Rhys straightened himself out, taking a step away from the wall now that he could. However, a large hand returned and pushed him back into place. “Ah, nope. You’re not in the clear yet. Cool tech, you’ve maybe got a solid alibi if I can grab records,” he shrugged, glancing at the cybernetic arm as he continued, “but you're still a possible leak, unless you have a believable reason for leaving at _that_ opportune moment-”

In trying not to hesitate, Rhys just told the truth as it was plausible in itself. “I wanted to get your attention.”

“Kiddo, there _are_ better ways to do that.” Jack said it in a way that made him feel like the dumbest person on Helios, and after a moment, he removed his hands from him for hopefully the last time. Rhys let out a relieved breath, his tense muscles finally able to relax now that he knew he wasn’t getting murdered today. Although, hearing Jack call him ‘kiddo’ felt like a hard slap in the face.

“For someone in data-mining, no, not really.”

“Touche. How long did those dipshits say it’s gonna take for that to work?” He pointed to the eye before standing with his arms crossed, looking at Rhys expectantly.

“It’s another week until I can take this off, and then two more until I can activate it.”

“Uh-huh.” Jack stared at him, just thinking for a moment. “Any way to accelerate that?”

“Yeah, but it’s nothing I can afford.”

“So a health hypo then?” He grinned, and his hand dove into the inside of his jacket, emerging with an oversized, red syringe in its grasp. “Keep it for emergencies but... Eh, not like I ever really need to use it.” Jack grabbed Rhys’s wrist, tugging him a little closer.

Rhys’s eyes widened as he looked at the long needle. “No, you don’t ne-” He couldn’t react quick enough to stop Jack from plunging the needle straight into his outer thigh. “FUCK- ow that-! Oh.” The piercing pain was bad for a moment, but as soon as the release was pressed on the syringe it was _gone._ The pain from the needle- the pain in his head and arm- completely nonexistent. Rhys just blinked at the man in front of him while he withdrew the needle. This whole time they hadn’t been alone in the hall, other people were walking by, minding their own business when they saw Jack. But Rhys’s yell did turn some heads, and hilariously make one person coming their way stop, spin around, and go back the way they came.

“I, uh, thanks?”

“Don’t mention it.” Jack glanced around the hall with a smile before his eyes landed back on Rhys. “I am going to take you up on that offer of getting a team to search your stuff, though. Can’t be too careful, but _first_ I wanna check out that eye of yours. Don’t think your department’s been too productive with me scaring the shit out of them, so meet me up in my office, in let’s say ten minutes? That’s enough time for you to go home and get presentable, right?” Rhys opened up his mouth to speak, but was immediately cut off. “Don’t answer, don’t really care. I’ll see ya in ten, and if you’re late I’ll reconsider my decision of letting you live.”

All Rhys could do was nod before Jack walked away. He looked on as the CEO continued to the elevator, shoving the empty syringe into the hands of a highly confused passerby. _Gross_. Jack didn’t seem to have the decency to throw away his own trash- even if it was a used needle. It brought Rhys to question why he was doing this again in the first place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And this chapter is actually beta'd wowee thanks to my bud GrayKatraz on here!
> 
> Comments and kudos are appreciated! Thanks for reading!


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